Duck Victory Icing on Cake

So it wasn’t quite the hockey showcase it might have been. So the star attraction was at home in Vancouver, unsigned and not in uniform. So the No. 2 attraction had a bum leg and skated at less than top speed.

So what?

The second consecutive sellout crowd of 10,500 at Yoyogi Arena this afternoon in Tokyo relished the NHL’s first appearance in Japan. By game’s end, it hardly mattered that the Mighty Ducks defeated the Vancouver Canucks, 3-2.

The NHL had succeeded in winning new fans. The league is expected to soon announce that more games will be played abroad. Europe is probably the next destination with a return to Japan also planned.

Paul Kariya’s absence almost was forgiven by the fans, who found new heroes to embrace as the teams ended their two-game series.

There were some mild boos directed at the Ducks during the player introductions and there was a “Come back, Paul” sign spotted in the arena.

Kariya, a Canadian of Japanese descent who is locked in a contract stalemate with the Ducks, is expected to join Team Canada for the Nagano Olympics in February.

But he wasn’t here for the first NHL games outside North America, disappointing his legion of Japanese fans. Instead, they focused their adoration on others.

For the Ducks, it was right wing Teemu Selanne, who scored a goal and had two assists to rebound from a rocky start in the season opener. J.J. Daigneault, who had the game-winner at 13:38 of the third period, and Tomas Sandstrom also scored for the Ducks. Pavel Bure and Trevor Linden had the Canucks’ goals.

“It was a huge win for us,” Selanne said. “Today, we just played a lot smarter.”

For the Canucks, it was steely Mark Messier, playing strongly despite a charley horse in his left thigh, suffered when he collided with Duck center Mark Janssens in the season opener.

Looking stern-faced but moving at perhaps only half-speed, Messier participated in the pregame skate. He took several turns around the ice with his teammates, but appeared stiff and uncomfortable and he departed for the dressing room well before the 20-minute warmup period expired.

Perhaps he might have been excused for missing a meaningless game. After all, Vancouver begins a five-game home stand with games Thursday against the Toronto Maple Leafs and Saturday against the New York Rangers, Messier’s former team.

But Messier would have nothing to do with it. He skated his regular shift, alongside Bure and contributed to the Canucks’ first goal without touching the puck.

Bure did all the work, picking up a loose puck along the right-wing boards and racing ahead. Messier filled the left-wing lane and the play developed into a two-on-one with only defenseman Bobby Dollas back for the Ducks.

Dollas played the pass as Bure and Messier swept toward the goal. But Bure gave a fake, rocketed around Dollas and neatly slipped the puck between the legs of goaltender Mikhail Shtalenkov.

Bure’s goal, at the 15:37 mark, was the second of two brilliant goals in the first period.

Selanne gave the Ducks their first lead of the season by scoring while sliding along the ice on his knees. Sean Pronger set up the goal with a centering pass.

At first, it didn’t appear the scoring chance would amount to anything because Selanne had fallen. But Selanne got his stick on the pass and managed to beat Vancouver goalie Kirk MacLean with a low shot to the glove side at the 7:42 mark.

It was just the tonic the Ducks needed after a sluggish start in a 3-2 loss to the Canucks in the opener.

“We’ve got to eliminate all the excuses and get these players going right away,” Coach Pierre Page said.